Ealing Council’s auditors, KPMG, have recommended a reining back of spending of the Council's Response Programme saying that the business case for much of the planned investment has not been properly costed. The executive director of finance and business athe the council commissioned the independent report to update the business case for the project.

Despite describing the scheme as 'an exciting concept' and saying the scheme is already delivering visible benefits KPMG have expressed major reservations about the scheme and the Council's ability to implement it. They point out that 2 out of 3 projects of this size in the public sector have failed to meet their aims and 'Response' is at a critical juncture.

The massive project, which is one of the biggest ever under-taken in local government by a single borough, originally hoped to have all services migrated into the systems developed for the programme by the end of this year. However there have been problems with getting various computer systems to 'talk' to each other and the Council sacked the principal contractor on the project, ATOS Origin earlier this year. KPMG point out that only 2 of over 100 Council Services have been integrated into the new system although it is two years since the project started.

The KPMG report says that the information provided by the Council on the business case for integration has been patchy and recommends that unless a properly documented case can be made then the investment in systems should not proceed.

The report says that most of the savings assumed by the Council over the ten year life of the project are 'high risk' and have not been properly modelled or explained. So far the project is 38% below target in terms of savings and no clear savings can be attributed to ICT. However, even in terms of medium and low risk savings determined by KPMG the project should cover its costs in terms of savings made although many of these savings would have been achievable without Response.

Council leader Leo Thomson said that the report was commissioned as a reality check and added that it, "highlights the realistic options for the Response programme and the way forward for the council. The change programme is bringing benefits to the council's customers and residents, and there are already some savings being made which allow us to reinvest in council services."

Gary Malcolm, a Liberal Democrat Councillor said, "Ealing Council has a track record of failing to deliver on important issues and when agreeing important contracts with companies. Liberal Democrats believe that residents should not be forced to wait longer and get a worse service than they were promised. Ealing Council has again wasted time and money on this initiative - and it is the tax payers that suffer!"

Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Jason Stacey accused the Council of biting off more than it can chew and said, "We were promised that by December 2005, Response would have delivered 'service excellence to Ealing'. We were told that the £61 M of cuts and mounting debt that Labour have forced on residents to pay for this white elephant would by now be producing cost savings as well as service improvements. But as KPMG makes clear the Council has not provided any detail on the key elements to Response – ICT and Business Process Re-engineering – and as a result the key parts of the programme can only be described as ‘high risk’."

So far the programme has delivered major changes to the way the council delivers its services including the redevelopment of the council's office accommodation and a new IT system. The council has also opened a new customer service centre to deal with people visiting the council, a new telephone contact centre, and has made changes which aim to make it easier for residents and customers when dealing with the council.